“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes. Just embarrassed.”
He gave her a grin. “Don’t worry about it. Happens to the best of us. I sneezed once and wound up with free weights on my chest. That didn’t feel too good.”
“I imagine not.” Imogen tried to focus on the man in front of her and not glance over to see if Ty had noticed her graceless spill onto the gym floor. “Have we met?” she asked him as she took in his caramel hair, broad shoulders, and crooked smile. He looked very familiar. “Are you a driver?”
His friendly expression went wary and she realized her mistake. He was going to assume she had known all along he was a driver and that she had taken a dive on the treadmill right when he walked past in order to get his attention. But she was actually positive she had met him before, she just couldn’t place his face. And not that he would know it, but she couldn’t imagine herself ever taking a fall just to get someone’s attention. It went against everything in her to risk personal injury or to start a relationship on a false pretense.
“Yeah, I’m a driver. Evan Monroe.” He was moving back from her, clearly intending to leave before she could trap him for the next half hour gushing over him, or whatever he thought she was intending.
But Imogen smiled. “Oh, duh, of course you’re Evan. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you right away as Elec’s brother. I’m Imogen Wilson, Tamara’s colleague at the university. I met you at Elec and Tamara’s wedding.”
His face cleared. “Oh, sure. Good to see you again. Did you just join this gym, or do we just never work out at the same time?”
“I just joined in a vain attempt to improve my overall physical condition. I have zero coordination, as I just demonstrated for you.”
“You look in pretty good shape to me.” Evan smiled.
Imogen shifted in her gym shoes. She recognized that smile. It was interest.
This was an unexpected turn of events.
“And there’s something different about you,” he added. “You got new glasses since the wedding, didn’t you?”
She had.
Wow. Falling off the treadmill might have just handed her the perfect opportunity to flirt per the rules.
Of course, she was supposed to exercise to get in shape, not to fly off the machinery and land at the feet of a driver. But whatever worked.
“I did get new glasses.” She smiled back. “I can’t believe you noticed.”
“I’m very perceptive,” he replied, leaning forward slightly. “Especially when it comes to beautiful women.”
It was a perfectly nice and flirty thing to say, and Imogen knew she should be excited at the opportunity being handed to her, but she still found herself glancing over at the doorway to see if Ty was still there even as she answered Evan. “Thanks,” she murmured, suddenly disappointed.
Ty was gone.
TY figured he could squeeze in a workout before heading to the office and suffering at the merciless hands of his assistant, Toni Bodine. Mondays and Tuesdays were his days to play catch-up, and while he had put in a full day doing appearances and autographing merchandise the day before, Toni wasn’t about to let him slide in late on a Tuesday, and it was already past eight.
He had been walking in the door to the gym when she had called him.
“Any chance you’re going to grace me with your presence today?” was her greeting.
Ty had to admit, he wasn’t a business-savvy kind of guy. He liked to drive; he liked to win. Plain and simple. Toni, who was in her fifties and a formidable force with a spreadsheet, kept him organized and where he was supposed to be. But he didn’t shirk his responsibilities, ever, and Toni knew that. She just liked to annoy him, and he liked to grumble and grouse. It was the way their relationship worked.
“Maybe if you beg.”
“No chance of that. But I imagine your sponsor might be less than thrilled if you aren’t at Wal-Mart at five P.M. to sign autographs.”
Pacing back and forth in front of the doorway, Ty said, “Have I ever missed a single appearance?” Those he actually liked doing. He enjoyed talking to the fans and having his picture taken. It was press conferences and cocktail parties he couldn’t always hang with.
“There was that one time at Talladega.”
“I had the stomach flu!” And they had had this argument a hundred times. Toni was never going to let him live down a virus he’d had no control over.
“So?”
“I was a public health risk.”
“Wimp.”
“And you’re a nag. But a gorgeous one.”
She snorted.
“Hey, did you order that book on audio that I left on my desk?” Toni was just about the only person who was privy to the fact that Ty was dyslexic, and she frequently ordered books on audio for him, and helped him sort through all his paperwork.
“Yes. Though I’m not sure why you want to know how to win yourself the heart of a race car driver.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Ty frowned.
“It’s a dating manual on how to win a race car driver in six easy steps. The end goal is marriage.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Ty was shocked. What the hell did that mean? Why would Imogen have a book like that?
“I am not kidding you. Where did you get it from anyway?”
“From a friend.”
“A female friend? Was it Nikki? Because that would not surprise me in the least.”
“No, not Nikki. We’re done. It was someone else, a sort of new friend.”
“Well, it looks like your, ahem, friend is on the prowl for a driver. Careful, Ty.”
“I don’t think she is.” That seemed nothing like Imogen, frankly, and hadn’t they talked about marriage after the disaster with Nikki? Imogen wasn’t the type to try to hook a man based on a dating book. He was sure of that.
“I’ve been flipping through it. It’s interesting. The first step is all about eating healthy, exercising, and learning about stock car racing. So if you spot her at the gym, look out.”
There was a startled yelp from across the gym and Ty glanced up, distracted.
What he saw made his jaw drop. It was Imogen, flying backward off a treadmill and landing on her ass on the gym floor.
“Oh, now you’ve really got to be freaking kidding me,” he repeated, absolutely appalled. It had to be coincidence. It had to be. Right?
“No, I’m not kidding you,” Toni said. “Are you sure you want me to buy this thing for you? I can probably still cancel the order before it ships.”